Backbone
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: Sasuri goes on a mission with Hinata, and saves her- not before she learns something about the girl, though. Short little one shot, Hinataxoc, girlxgirl.e


**Author's note:** I felt like updating this account with something... here's a little gay one shot of sorts I found as I sifted through my old stuff.

**Summary:** Sasuri goes on a mission with Hinata, and saves her- not before she learns something about the girl, though. Short little one shot, Hinataxoc, girlxgirl.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or its characters...

* * *

**Backbone**

Flames surrounded them, a neat circle made around them blazing with red. Close by a man laughed and boasted about his victory. He was silenced when the flames were extinguished by a certain silver-haired nin's water jutsu. As smoke filtered into the sky, four figures became visible.

"You three go after the others. I'll take care of this one." Kakashi ordered, putting away his magazine and leisurely pulling out a kunai. "I'll join you shortly."

"Ha! You think you can beat the Great Newa?" The large green man yelled from across the field. He lifted one foot, slammed it into the ground, and did so with the other like a sumo wrestler. Or just some really fat guy.

"Good luck." Sasuri saluted, and the others nodded as they all darted towards the gap in the trees. When a large vine attempted to block their path, Kakashi easily burned it down with the same technique the man had previously used, and faced his opponent.

"Don't forget who you're fighting."

"Sasuri hurry up! Damn you're slow." Kiba ordered as they ran, looking back at the female while perched on Akamaru.

"You're one to talk…." She mumbled as her gaze lowered to the canine below him. "Go ahead- I'll be there shortly."

"C'mon Hinata." He told Hinata, and after receiving a nod from her, both started running faster. After cursing silently to herself, the female being left behind pushed the ground harder and attempted to catch up to them. Of course she failed, and soon the pair were out of sight.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this…"

By the time she got there, Kiba had finished fighting one of the two assailants, but was badly injured. His pup, Akamaru, was in worse shape by his side. A dead rogue Rock nin was dead by a large boulder nearby.

Hinata was still fighting the last one, some 100 meters away on the other side of the clearing, blood leaking from her mouth and smudged on her hands. Her Byakugan was activated, though weakened by the looks of it, and hair was falling from the ponytail. Sasuri could see the girl's limbs shaking, breath rapid, and taking a closer look, she noticed a stab wound in her left side.

She also noticed who her opponent was- the rogue Hyuuga that was rumored to be terrorizing the town. He looked a lot like the Neji Hyuuga she'd met once, but with longer hair and torn black clothing. His sleeves were ripped off, large holes in the knees of his pants. His face was much more bony and a long scar reached from the corner of his eye to his right ear lobe.

"Hyuuga versus Hyuuga, eh?" The red head commented, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Hinata!" Kiba yelled when the man was charging again, Byakugan blazing and no obvious wound. "Hinata, run!"

"N… no!" The girl stated defiantly. Her head fell forward as she coughed up more blood, but she raised her hands in defense. "Th… this… th-this is my fight!" Her eyes met those of the killer before her, and Sasuri watched with mild amazement.

The Byakugan wielding opponent jammed his hand into her shoulder, sending the girl flying back. A sadistic smirk pulled unyieldingly at his mouth, eyes sparkling like a beetle's.

The kunoichi's body thudded to the ground, a bone cracking sound echoing throughout her body. She let out a cry as the pain racked through her body, blood gurgled and spilled over onto the ground and pooled around her. The red head raised an eyebrow at the scene, deaf to the sounds of Hinata's team mate yelling. The sounds of him pleading for her to stand, to just hang on.

"What a weakling. You're the reason I left, bitch." The Hyuuga laughed as he stepped forward, approaching the fallen girl. "I'll give you a mercy killing. Then, I'll kill your team mate for killing my good friend over there."

"What kind of man insults his opponent like that when they're already beaten?" Sasuri questioned loudly, leaning leisurely against a tree, hands in her pockets. "No wonder they wanted to put that torture mark on your head- with a mouth like that I certainly would."

"What did you say!" He asked, forgetting about the fallen female.

"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STANDING THERE?" Kiba yelled, then coughed.

"Ya know, I bet your family has a huge bounty on your head. I could get a lot of money if I brought your body back." Sasuri commented, still not moving from her place.

"You think you can beat me, bitch!" He asked louder, hands balling into fists.

"Where is the scroll? I'm guessing that you have it?"

"It's in my back pocket!" He yelled triumphantly, even pulling it out to show her. "Not that you'll ever get it. From the way you're standing, I can deduct that you're a very confident person. Though, I wonder why a Sand nin is helping Konoha?"

"Peace Treaty. Now, Chako-"

"My name's Namu!"

"Same diff. Now, do you know if I'd get more money for you dead or alive? I know that you pieces of crap are worth less than the head honchos of your family, like Hinata-"

"Aaaah!" He screamed as he ran towards her, veins bulging from the side of his face.

The red head walked towards the male, and then stood still. A second later, the same hand that had stabbed itself into Hinata's shoulder now jabbed itself into hers. Chakra pulsed into her body.

"You didn't even try to dodge?"

"You underestimated you opponent."

The man's eyes widened as he looked down at the hand on his chest. His own hand fell, followed by the other one. His arms hung uselessly at his side, panic rising within him.

Sasuri's fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt and pressed against his ribs. To a stranger or passerby, it might seem that nothing was happening- the Hyuuga with pale eyes had just given up.

He fell to his knees.

"H-how a-are you stealing m-m-my my chakra?" She ignored his question and just stared into his eyes, watching the life be sucked out of them. His eyes glistened less, eyelids fluttering, red lines appearing on those glossy orbs. Then she pulled out a syringe full of a green liquid, and injected it into his arm.

"Night." She whispered, and pushed the male back. He fell to the ground like a puppet without his strings, unconscious and barely alive.

"H… Hinata!" She looked back to the injured comrade, smirk falling from her face. The blue-haired girl struggled onto her hands and knees, still coughing up opius amounts of blood and coughing horribly. Her body shook. Arms wobbled. Head hung. Hair created a curtain around her.

"Is everyone all right?" A voice asked from the Sand nin's side, causing her to jump.

"How'd the fight with Chubby go?" She asked calmly.

"Easy enough, once I found his weak spot. Did you recover the scroll?" He asked, eyeing the field and then looking back to the girl at his side. He watched as the leaned over and reached towards the fallen Hyuuga, feeling for his pocket and pulling out a rather small looking scroll. "Size isn't everything…. Are you injured? Can you help Kiba and I'll hurry Hinata to the hospital. She seems in worse condition."

"I got a blow to the shoulder, but otherwise fine. I need to carry this fellow here- he's not quite dead, but I intend to get him back to Konoha."

"Let me carry the scroll."

"Why you?" She questioned, placing the small object in her bag.

"This is a Konoha mission- you're just a guest." He said with a smile, though barely seen behind his black mask. With a frown, she took the scroll back out and handed it to him.

"Did you know that you sleep talk?" The red head questioned from the chair to her side, absentmindedly reading through the magazine. "You have the most interesting thoughts about sewing and cooking and… other uninteresting things." She spoke as she flipped the page, not even bothering to look at the blush she knew was spreading across the injured girl's face.

"So… sorry." She muttered, bowing her head.

"Sorry for sleep talking or sorry for being boring?"

Not surprisingly, the red faced girl didn't answer.

"What's a pretty girl like you being a kunoichi for, hm? From what I can see, you're pretty weak. Can't even beat your lower ranked cousin, hm?"

"Shut up!"

Sasuri turned to another page. "What an interesting book…" She commented, and lifted the object to turn it onto it's side. Hinata looked at her for a moment, coughed into her hand, and then looked at the magazine the woman was reading.

'Ichi Ichi Paradise'.

"You're… you're reading th-th-th-that?" She asked as her eye twitched, face turning an even darker shade of red.

"Yeah… don't like the male characters that much, but the chicks are pretty hot. You never did answer me about why you're a kunoichi."

"I… I want to get stronger."

"Stronger would require some natural skill." She commented, finally glancing up from the pages to the red faced girl on the bed. She watched her knuckles turn white from gripping the sheets. Sasuri searched the curtain of hair for her face, and found none.

"I don't care what you say. I… I will become stronger. I _am_ stronger."

The red head nodded, and went back to her magazine. "I like a girl with some back bone…"

Hinata smiled to herself, behind that curtain of blue and tears soaking her cheeks.

"And she's got a _lot_ of it. Sassy-Massy…"

A chuckled was heard from the bed. Her back shook as she silently laughed to herself. "Of course you were talking about that…" She muttered, and wiped at the tears on her face.

"You too, Hinata. You've got a lot of nice qualities."

Hinata's eyes widened and she looked at the girl to her wide, surprised by the comment. "Thank… thank you." She squeaked.

"Whatever." Sasuri commented from behind the magazine, a faint blush creeping along her own cheeks.


End file.
